LITMIR.BIZ

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      ‘G-games, my lord?’

      He caught the fan, his long fingers closing it up and pulling it from her hand.

      ‘It has gone on long enough, madam, your flirtations and intrigues. I do not want to come home and learn that you are out at this party, or that rout. I need you here, supporting me, do I make myself clear?’

      There was something implacable about Anthony’s stern gaze that made Gwen’s heart flip. She gave an uncertain little laugh.

      ‘La, you are very masterful tonight, my lord. If I did not know better, I would think you were jealous.’

      He did not smile.

      ‘If you do not mend your ways, madam, you will discover just how masterful I can be.’

      He held out the fan, and when she took it he turned on his heel and walked away.

      * * *

      ‘Oh, that was quite, quite terrible,’ cried Dominiqiue, when she and Gideon were in their carriage and homeward bound. ‘Everyone was smiling when we got up to leave! And, and—oh, heavens. They will think that we, that we—’

      ‘And is that not the truth of it?’ He caught her fingers and held them in a warm, sustaining clasp. ‘I wanted you to myself, to make love to you.’

      ‘Oh, Gideon.’ She tried to make out his face in the near darkness. Whatever the outcome, she must be honest now. ‘That is what I want, too.’

      With a growl he pulled her into his arms, seeking her mouth, teasing her lips apart so that his tongue could plunder and explore. She responded instantly, aware that this was the first time since their wedding night, a full twelve months ago, that they had come together in passion, rather than the restrained couplings of the marriage bed.

      He tugged at the strings of her cloak until it fell away and his mouth moved to that sensitive spot below her ear, where the touch of his lips made her pulse leap alarmingly. He touched her jaw with light, butterfly kisses, continued down the slender column of her neck, his tongue flickering in the hollow at the base of her throat and making her moan softly. She leaned into him, her breasts hot and aching as they pushed against the restrictions of her gown. His hands smoothed over her shoulders, pushing aside the muslin sleeves and leaving her skin free for more kisses. Dominique reached out for him, fumbling with the buttons of his waistcoat and shirt. She slid her hand under the fine linen and caressed the smooth, hard frame of his chest.

      The coach lurched over a particularly uneven section of the road and they were thrown apart. Dominique fell back into the corner while Gideon slipped to the carriage floor. She expected him to jump up, but instead he remained on his knees, gently pushing aside the whispering skirts. She caught her breath as his hands caressed the soft skin of her inner thigh. Where his fingers explored his mouth followed. He slid his hands under her bottom and pulled her towards him, holding her firm while he kissed her even more intimately, his mouth and tongue caressing her until she was crying out at the sheer, swooning pleasure of his touch. Time stopped. The rocking of the carriage merely enhanced the intolerable delight he was inflicting upon her, carrying her out of her body into the soaring, weightless heights of ecstasy.

      When at last he ceased the relentless pleasuring she reached out for him, driving her fingers through his hair, tugging at the shoulders of his coat and pulling him up so she could kiss him. Excitement welled even further when she tasted herself on his lips. With a groan he held himself away from her and slid on to the bench.

      ‘By God I cannot hold out much longer.’ He quickly unfastened his breeches, pulling her on to his lap. ‘Time for you to come to me.’

      Eagerly she straddled him. He held her hips firmly and pushed himself into her slick heat. Dominique gasped, putting her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as he thrust again, and this time she was prepared. She pressed down on him, matching his movements, elated by his groans of pleasure as she rode him, exulting in the feel of his hard length inside her. She was almost out of control with the delicious torment, bucking and shuddering, but he held on to her, driving ever deeper into her until the final juddering thrust. She barely heard his shout of triumph for her own head was thrown back, her eyes closed as she tensed and shuddered and her consciousness exploded into a million stars.

      * * *

      Dominique collapsed against him and he held her close, his breathing ragged. Her whole body was glowing, like the hot coals of a fire after the first, hectic blaze has died down.

      ‘Oh, heavens,’ she murmured at last, her head on his chest where she could feel the hammering of his heart against her cheek. ‘Have I behaved very wantonly? I do beg your pardon.’

      His arms tightened.

      ‘You have been quite delightful this evening, if a little surprising.’

      Being in his arms was blissful, but she needed to explain so she pushed herself away into the corner.

      ‘I w-wanted you to notice me. I have tried so hard to be a good wife to you, but you never come to my bed any more. And I—I miss you.’

      Gideon sat up and straightened his clothes.

      ‘I have kept my distance because I do not want to harm you, Dominique,’ he said quietly. ‘I cannot forget what my mother went through.’

      ‘Your mama had too many children too quickly.’ She clasped her hands together. She had overcome her embarrassment to talk to the kindly doctor about it, now she must talk to her husband. ‘I am very healthy, Gideon, Dr Bolton says so, and he also says we need not—need not refrain.’ She added, her voice little more than a whisper, ‘Unless you do not want me.’

      With a shaky laugh he reached for her.

      ‘After what we have just done you will know that is not the case.’ He tilted up her chin and kissed her. ‘I shall share your bed tonight, Dominique, and every night, if you will allow. And with a little care we can avoid making you with child again too often.’ The coach slowed and turned. Gideon lifted his head. ‘We are home, my dear.’ He replaced her cloak on her shoulders and as the carriage came to a halt he jumped down on to the drive, turning back to hold out his hand to her. ‘Shall we go in?’

      ‘I am not sure I can walk,’ she confessed as he helped her out of the carriage.

      ‘Then I shall carry you, as I should have done when you first came here.’ With that he swept her up into his arms, explaining to the astonished Thomas that Mrs Albury was feeling a little faint.

      Dominique slipped her arms about his neck and buried her face in his shoulder as he carried her up the stairs, knowing that if the butler saw the glow on her cheeks it would give the lie to Gideon’s words. Somehow he managed to open the door to her bedchamber and dismissed her startled maid.

      ‘There. That will set the household ringing with conjecture! Now, can you stand? I want to look at you.’

      He set her on her feet and pushed the cloak from her shoulders before running his hands down her arms and catching her hands. In the glow of candlelight the ruby gown was almost as dark as her glorious hair. A few glossy curls had escaped and now lay in wayward abandon against the creamy skin of her breasts. They were rising and falling rapidly and the fire in his loins began to burn again. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, how much he loved her, but when he looked into her eyes and saw the heat of desire in their emerald depths he lost the ability to speak. Silently he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

      Slowly he unlaced her bodice and with a soft sigh the ruby satin fell in a dark pool at her feet. She stood before him in her shift, a gossamer-thin layer that hid nothing, only enhanced the lines of her body and the beautifully rounded breasts, their pink roseate tips delectably visible. He reached out to take the pins from her hair, while she began to undress him.

      They did not pause until every last stitch had been shed. They were standing before the fire and he held her away from him, drinking in the perfection of her body, golden in the firelight. She dropped her head, allowing the dark

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